Ch23
Outskirts of Zaofu
Western Earth Kingdom
The situation in the independent city state had become grave. Suddenly it no longer felt like Zaofu, 2020, but rather like Stalingrad 1942. The city had begun enforcing curfews and dark hours at night, underground bomb shelters and escape tunnels into the mountains had been erected and reinforced overnight. Planes of all sizes, from small Future Industries biplanes to the jumbo jets of varying airlines were frantically hauling people out of the city; they were filled with those from other nations, other regions, and other worlds, leaving the citizens of Zaofu to fend for themselves.
Air raid sirens would sound at the slightest inkling of a potential raid. And Suyin often would make broadcasts telling her people to keep on alert and to be safe in these trying times. The knowledge that, forming just outside the territory of Zaofu, just out of sight and range, was an entire standing army, was unsettling.
Four-engined aircraft, unknown to those on the ground if they were cargo jets, bombers, gunships, or simply Emerald Airlines commercial flights, 747's all of them, flew over the city uncontested after the destruction of Zaofu's crucial airfield and fighter wing. They dropped leaflets, calling for the surrender of the city, and trying to draw the citizens of Zaofu over to the side of the Earth Empire. There was no sugar coating it, the Empire was being direct saying that the army and air force would move on the city at an unspecified moment in the coming days; the assault was inevitable, and therefore the window for the ordinary civilians to evacuate was rapidly closing. But while some did obey, following the escape route's instructions listed on each individual leaflet, which detailed driving directions for those with cars and instructions for what train station to get off at and which direction to walk in for those without, many stayed.
Many international businesses had ground to a halt in Zaofu, with offices being vacated in days of expatriates. Shops and restaurants had reduced hours and ever changing schedules. The city's waste management department, however, was bustling on account of all the tonnage of leaflets being dropped seemingly on the hour.
Jun leaned up against the sandbags of his small position. Nearby, a crew of Zaofu's metal bending guard were setting up an 88mm Flak 88 anti-tank gun. It was dug in well enough, with only the barrel and the top of the gun exposed, and had a nice area of fire. The land that led up to Zaofu was as open and as plain as it could possibly get however. There was, essentially, nothing to hide the defenders at all, except a few boulders scattered throughout the valley. They were lucky that Zaofu's air defenses were enough to ward off waves of 2nd generation fighter jets and lumbering militarized jumbos. Tanks were dug in as well, with other reserves lying in wait in special underground nests, completely out of sight from the surface. To Jun's left was one of Zaofu's own Tiger I tanks. But he knew, even though firepower was matched or even favoring Zaofu, numbers and crew would gain the victory in this case.
Zaofu's military bread and butter was its air power, and that was gone. On the ground, having several tank designs inherited from Vietnam War-era America, they were ahead of Kuvira tank-wise, but not leaps and bounds ahead. Kuvira's forces had hundreds of tanks, Tiger I's and II's and Panthers, as well as thousands of troops and armored mechs. That wasn't even counting the air support, artillery, and whatever new siege weapons they would be bringing to the field in this assault.
Yasuho was over there too, Jun thought. He didn't particularly want to face her, in more ways than combatively. She was an ace tank commander, an expert metal bender, and a ruthless - near merciless - fighter. She could become a totally different person in the field. And to top that off, he wasn't exactly on calm terms with her relationship wise either.
"Currently, my administration is trying to broker talks for a peaceful resolution to the Earth Empire-Zaofu situation," the voice of President Biden could be heard coming through the field radio, a playback from a recent White House press briefing. "We want to try and bring this situation to a close as peacefully as we can, and avoid any aggressive acts by either side. Our focus right now, though, has been getting all of our Americans out and away from Zaofu while the Earth Empire evacuation corridor is still open. At this point, we have been admittedly unsuccessful in bringing both Suyin Beifong and President Kuvira to the negotiating table, but will continue to try and broker a peaceful settlement.
"We are monitoring the situation as it unfolds. But make no mistake, we, the US, stand against the annihilation of a civilization simply because they refuse to fall in line to an expanding empire."
The voice of a press reporter came over the president's voice. "Mister President, what is your stance on the other states of the former Earth Kingdom falling into allegiance with the Earth Empire as a result of reported military coercion?
"Is the US taking special interest in Zaofu simply because of their appeal to American businesses and tourists? Why is the US only taking interest in the Earth Empire's imperial campaign now? Six years later?"
Jun flicked off the radio. No time for the bizarity of politics and media. He checked the drum on his 1928 Thompson. He was one of the few, if not the only person, in the entire department that willingly used the heavy, noisy, and clunky drum magazines. Part of him did it because 'it looked cool', truth be told, but he only carried one for his initial magazine. What he didn't want to happen was for the drum to have a feed issue when it counted. Even though it had almost gotten him killed once, that only made him make sure everything was in working order rather than drop them all together.
"Maybe I should have brought the Garand," he sighed.
"You say that," John chimed, "often, but I don't think I've ever seen you use that rifle beyond the range." His partner slung his M1 Carbine and drew a cigarette for a smoke. "Besides," he mumbled, holding the unlit cigarette in the corner of his mouth, "With how this battle will inevitably turn out…we're going to have tank divisions and mechanized infantry right on top of us anyway."
Kaho, a shorter and younger woman compared to the two men, chimed in as she finished field cleaning her own M1928 submachine gun, "You don't think we'll hold em off?" She was smug. She didn't actually expect that Zaofu's defensive contingent and a reinforcement of undercover UFDI agents would be able to hold off an army.
John and Jun leaned over and looked over the defensive forces. There were a lot of them, and unlike the daofei the Earth Empire had been curb-stomping until now, they were actually trained militarily. But the two men scoffed. "Nope. Not a chance." They would give it their all, as good soldiers would when given an order from the top. But without a proper army, Zaofu stood no chance. "Don't tell Suyin Beifong that, though," Jun said.
"You got a last name, Kaho?" John asked. He hadn't met her until this point.
"I don't, sir," she replied. "My family never got the Mechanized World suggestion that family names can be important and would be nice to have."
"You're kinda young for this job. What service were you in prior? United Forces? Army?"
"Neither UF Army, Navy, or Air Force," she replied, as diligent and straightforward as ever.
"Well now, everyone in the UFDI had some prior service," John commented, "Even if at the very very least, RCPD."
Jun's Zippo lighter clinked shut. "No John, she's telling the truth." He puffed some smoke from his cigarette. "Straight out of high school. The only lady in the entire department to do so."
"You made an exception?" he asked.
"I did." The chief turned to his partner. "She came from a prestigious high school. RC Kai-Sakura Academy."
"Girls from that school don't end up in the UFDI, especially in the field element."
"This sakura had thorns,"Jun said. "Was a key informant when we were tackling the Equalists."
"Six..seven years ago?" John questioned. "She would have been…what? Eighteen?"
"Seventeen," Kaho said, matter-of-factly. "Risked losing my bending for that."
"Well," Jun paused. "You would have gotten it back at the end, if you had. Really wasn't a big deal after all."
"Well we didn't know that then, did we? Even the Avatar didn't know what the problem was until after the fact. At that time, it was a forever thing!" Kaho turned to Jun, her mentor figure. "That aside! Weren't you the person getting on my ass for smoking?!"
"You were a minor, it's different. That's actually breaking a law."
"You're still filling your lungs with tar," she scoffed. "Acting all holier-than-thou back then. Ha!"
"I'm working on it," Jun nagged. "We're literally about to fight a tank army. It's one stick."
"It's because your girlfriend is on the enemy side isn't it?"
Jun pulled the cigarette from his mouth and held it in his hand. "Excuse me? I don't recall telling you that."
"But you've been with that one army captain, right? I'm right, aren't I?"
"Within the past few months, we got together..So I wouldn't necessarily say 'we've been together' as if it's been years."
"It took you this long?!" Kaho prodded. "Off the battlefield and away from literal murderers, your courage wears thin, doesn't it."
"I was with someone at that time, Agent Kaho," Jun pushed back, defending himself. "There's downtime to these things."
"Yeah," she droned, "But Kyoko was a flight attendant! Yasuho is a combat officer. And she's also literally the same rank you were when you left the Marine Corps. You're practically on the same wavelength."
Jun grumbled. He was pushed into a corner, and she obviously had really dug into the people in his life. I don't recall telling you all that, Jun thought. Where did you scrape this up from? Official files? Interviewed some of the Marines in the nearby base? "By the way, she's Captain Aoshima to you, Kaho. It's weird listening to you be so casually familiar with someone you've pretty much never talked to."
"Gentlemen," a stern voice called to the trio, "and Lady." Suyin was making her rounds of the defensive line and had finally popped in on the leading man for the delegation force from the UNR. She had managed to convince President Raiko to send some military help, even if it was under the table. And as a result, many of the UFDI did not sit well with Suyin for this particular op.
"Miss Beifong," Kaho and John greeted.
"Suyin," Jun followed up with his own acknowledgement.
Suyin was fully armored up, donning her own combat armor and resembling the rest of her guards. "What's your read on everything?"
"We can probably put up one hell of a fight," Jun began. "Numbers aside, our forces are dug in pretty well, despite the lack of concealment. Fighting positions are staggered with several equally as well prepped fall back positions dotting the landscape from here to the edge of Zaofu…" Jun trailed off and as he did so he lowered his voice. "...But there's no way in hell we can realistically expect to hold them off and turn them away. Sure, anything can happen in battle, but to expect such an outcome..is not realistic." He returned the questioning towards Suyin. "What's your angle? How do you expect this to end?"
Suyin sighed. She was reluctant to answer, but she wasn't incapable of seeing fact. "Zaofu is prepped and ready, mentally, for hand-to-hand, door-to-door, combat… The Earth Empire doesn't have anything that hits hard enough to break through the thick platinum armored domes that encapsulate the city. The only thing, short of a ballistic missile or a MOAB, that the empire would have to field inorder to break through that dome would be a battleship gun. But even that might not be able to do the trick.
"We have rocket artillery and a fierce battery of conventional artillery set up within the domed cities of Zaofu, and can fire out the open tops of their eggs without fully exposing the cities. And those can easily be closed to protect from counter strikes. Basically, just like how Yu Dao was defended from Eastern and Western attacking forces by centralized artillery, we'll do the same here in Zaofu."
"Until…?"
"Until Kuvira backs off and comes off her high horse to listen at the negotiating table," Suyin relented. "Ideally she'd undo whatever imperial conquests she's done in the Earth Empire and stand trial for the atrocities I am certain she is responsible for. But I know that's too much to ask for at this point. I need to focus on my own people."
Somehow, that's also part of the reason we are in this mess to begin with, Jun thought to himself.
"Maybe if we are able to hold off the Empire long enough, we can garner more allies to aid or reinforce," Suyin finished. "We just need to hold the line until then."
The three of them, Jun, Kaho, and John, did not feel at ease with that statement. Waiting for others to commit, supply-wise, financially, or, least likely of which, with direct deployment of reinforcing troops, were not something that would come about in one or two days of fighting. Likely, especially if she was hoping for the US or other-worldly allies to militarily intervene, it would not come even with years of fighting. And Zaofu certainly did not have years.
It was questionable whether or not they would last two days.
Outskirts of Zaofu
Earth Empire Front Line
Western Earth Empire
The order to attack came soon enough! PFC Choi was among the forward and first echelons of the Earth Empire's assault. Already it was a bloody ordeal! For reasons far above his pay grade to question, but similarly questioned by everyone from the lowly private to the lieutenants, captains, and majors, several platoons of mechanized infantry were deployed with light armor cover. Supported by halftracks, mech suits, and medium tanks, the initial waves were met with an overwhelming wall of machine gun, tank, and cannon fire! And in these exposed and level battlegrounds, large chunks of platoons were cut down with tanks and mechs destroyed. Shells sailed back and forth on the flat lands, fired from heavy cannons, and tracers filled the air. The PFC thought the scene was similar to a Star Wars film!
The ground shook and rumbled with the vibrations from the tanks and trucks as they attempted to roll on. The shells impacting and exploding and the succinct stamps of the passing mecha suits added staccato to this orchestra of destruction. Kyung found himself hunkered down in an earth bent foxhole. Bullets whizzed over his head ferociously, also peppering the ground around his position. He was not keen on poking his head out to return aimed fire. He inserted a fresh box magazine into his Type-43 rifle. Ten more rounds. He hugged his rifle, trying to lay as flat as possible in the foxhole he thought was not deep enough. The weight of the extra belts of 8mm ammunition also discouraged him from getting up. In his squad, he was tasked with carrying extra ammunition for the machine gun. The machine gun and crew were several meters ahead, similarly dug in. But unlike him, not shooting, he could hear the blood-thirsty tear from the MG42, laying down a seemingly uninterrupted stream of lead towards the Zaofu lines.
"Choi!" his sergeant yelled over the ongoing chaos of war, "Up and at 'em! MG needs more ammo! Move!" The NCO was emphatically waving his arm for Choi and the other men, mules tasked with carrying ammo and spare barrels for the machine gun, to push up and rejoin the MG crew. "Any day now!"
The 42 ripped through another link of ammunition, fire, muzzle flash, and green laser-like lights, tracers, belched from its muzzle. The link was consumed in an instant as the machine gunner racked the charging handle to cycle another link in. The barrel glowed red-hot, hissing from the heat before the torrent of fire resumed.
PFC Choi turned to his squad mates. One carrying more belts of ammo, and the other carrying a sheath of spare mg42 barrels. "It's ten yards to the machine gun! Get ready!"
The soldier carrying the barrels slung his rifle. "Alright, let's move!" Choi signaled.
A shield of earthen stone rose from the ground, coming to waist height ahead of the men, the spare barrel carrier earth bending the dense wall to cover their advance. Bullets thudded against the walled surface as they slammed into the stone. PFC and the other squad mate ran ducked, behind, still keeping as low as they could while running with their gear and supplies. Any taller, and the wall and their movement became more likely to draw the attention of a field gun, which Earth Empire troops had learned early on when using a moving wall. The wall suddenly dropped into the ground and the three men dove for the foxhole, rejoining their squad and completing their advance. Choi made it in. The earth bender of the trio made it in. But the last man, the other ammo carrier, didn't. A bullet soared center through where the wall had once been and zipped just over the crown of the second man's helmet, striking the trailing soldier through the chest. He dropped to the dirt just short of the foxhole. Choi's last remaining dash partner quickly spun around and pulled his fallen comrade into the foxhole by the sling of his rifle.
"Bout damn time you three showed up!" their sergeant yelled. Just as he did, the '42 ran dry.
"Ziang's down!" the earth bender reported.
"Out!" the gunner yelled, ducking below the ridge of their position, "Need a barrel swap too!"
Choi unwrapped a long and heavy belt of ammunition, passing it to the assistant machine gunner. The MG's spotter was soon passed a fresh, cold, replacement barrel. The machine gunner, with a flick of wrist had unlatched the glowing hot steel barrel and soon had it floating rapidly through the air to the receiving influence of another gunner's assistant. Metal bending made the swap process smoother, and with less chances to get burned. Soon the gun was up and ready to continue the carnage.
"We're suppressed all along the front! Zaofu's dug in real well!" the sergeant yelled. "For now, return fire and sit tight! We're waiting for further orders to move! Command is pushing additional support to the front!"
The stamping of a mech suit shook their foxhole. Choi looked back, catching sight of the armored suit crouching down in a depression. Bullets ricocheted off the steel chestpiece as the machine roared to life.
"Down!" the sergeant yelled, "Get down!"
The tear of two MG42's, this time coming from the Zaofu side opened up. A terrifying stream of whizzing flew over the squads heads as beams of orange light tore overhead. The mech was hosed and peppered all over by hot lead, several smashing deep cracks and ridges into the operator's bullet glass vision port. A brief whizzle and a sudden blast that had seemed to appear from nowhere! The ground just to the left and behind the mech was kicked up as a shell from a field gun tore into the ground, right into the center of another foxhole filled with troops. A miss, but a hit.
"Return fire! Return fire! Suppress those bastards!" the sergeant yelled, "Gather your courage and move to the ridge!" The machine gun opened up, resuming fire. Green tracers sprayed toward the Zaofu lines, sweeping left and right. Rifle and submachine gun fire soon followed. Choi crawled up to the ridge of their foxhole and shouldered his Type 43. He fired as accurately as he could, occasionally catching what he thought was a helmet peeping out of a ditch. He was really just shooting at where he could make out the muzzle flashes. The engagement distance was great.
The mech began to rise from its low crouch, a laser designator shone from a mount over its shoulder. The heavy mechanical clacking and racking of its arm-mounted 20mm chain gun sounded forth. Its gears and engines whirred to life. The metal giant stood up over the entrenched men.
Bam! Bam! Bam! The chain gun chugged away. Heavy steel casings shot out from the cannon's ejection port and began to pile up on the ground beside. The hollowed spent casings rang like bells as they bounced off each other. Ker-chunk, ker-chunk, ker-chunk, the heavy gun cycled. Choi could watch the heavy projectiles fly down range. If bullets were pebbles, those were stones and small boulders. The cannon rounds smashed through whatever earthen barriers and sandbags were set up opposing them and peppered bunker faces. The field gun that had fired, and missed, was peppered until inoperable and its crew put down. A stack of high explosive shells detonated and a fireball erupted. Choi could see the small but easily spotted, grotesque and brutal splatters of blood and gore from each direct hit on a softbody target.
"Make way! Make way!" the sergeant called, as the mech operator advanced forward, not laying off the cannon fire until the chain had been exhausted. Several other mechs began to push up too. Choi whipped his head left, hearing a sharp explosion. The next mech over had been struck by a tank round. The heavy metal suit splitting from the waist up from catching the high velocity round. The pair of metal legs still stood upright and stationary where the machine last stood, but its punctured torse, arms, head, and whatever liquified remains of its operator that sloshed around inside was launched several dozens of yards back into the troop positions.
From a dug in position, a Panzer IV rolled up and onto the surface, its gun trained towards the enemy. They had sighted the tank that had fired the shot and were posed to strike back. The 75mm cannon blasted a deafening boom, and following the blur from Choi shipping his head and eyes back to the front, he saw the turret of a Zaofu M4 Sherman launched from a geyser of fire stemming from its hull.
Halftracks with their forward-mounted weapons, machine guns, cannons, and grenade launchers pushed from the rear echelons with the mechs and tanks. This was a second wind! Whistles blew across the ranks. Soldiers rallied with a battle cry. Choi tapped in a new mag and let the bolt ride forward.
"Here we go!" the sergeant yelled, "Gather your courage!"
The squad readied up as the mech stomped ahead, now emerging onto the open battlefield. The armored suit knelt and its upper torso leaned forward. From a weapons pack mounted on its back, a tube extended upward. The sound of a heavy metal projectile sliding down a metal cylinder was heard, then a sudden THOONK! A mortar! The mech operator fired again before rising and once again opening fire with its chain gun. The Panzer IV roared to life and began advancing, marking its departure with another blast from its cannon.
"Move with the tank!" the sergeant called. The MG crew gathered their supplies, the gunner hoisting the thirty-five pound machine gun and belt and holding it waist-high by the bipod. The sergeant blew his whistle.
Letting lose a battle cry, PFC Choi and his squad of Mechanized Infantrymen rallied behind their squad leader and supporting tanks, chasing down the briefly retreating Zaofu front line troops.
Zaofu 2nd Defensive Line
Outskirts of Zaofu
Western Earth Kingdom
"Say again your corrections, Alpha three-one!"
Jun cursed overtly, flinching as a shell exploded just ahead of their position. Machine gun and rifle fire, the sound of crumbling earth and zipping airborne metal, and the blasts of cannon fire had already forced strain on his vocal chords. He had been yelling fire support orders into the radio since the battle had started. Fire Support officer needs better ears, Jun snarled mentally.
"Kyoshi Sector!" Jun shouted into the handpiece with emphasis, "Need immediate fire support, troops, tanks, mechs, and technicals in the open and closing! Fire for effect! I repeat! Fire for effect! Danger close!"
"Confirmed, Fire Sector Kyoshi. Multiple hostiles in the open, firing for effect, danger close!"
Jun slammed the radio back down on its receiver. "Bout damn time he heard that!" He picked up his binoculars and returned to spotting for the AT gun. The oncoming Empire forces were still a long arms' length away, his efforts and direction were best allocated to directing the field artillery.
"Mech suit," Jun called out, "range two-thousand meters! Load armor piercing!"
The crew of the Flak 36 field gun scrambled to ready the shot. The barrel and bore angled up slightly to compensate for the range, and one of the loaders rapidly bent an 88mm shell into battery.
Jun, temporary gun layer, called out the relative position. "Bearing zero-eight-five degrees."
"Zero-eight-five degrees, two-thousand meters, armor piercing, ready!"
"Fire!"
The shooter yanked the lanyard and the cannon fired. The high velocity shell flashed down range in Jun' binoculars. An explosion! But..right of the target…
"Shift fire left, two degrees, zero-eight-seven! Fire when ready," Jun adjusted. He could hear the cranking of adjustment wheels and a new shell sliding into breach.
"Firing!" The cannon went off. A sharp whistle of the shell warping into the distance.
"Hit!" Jun called out, "Center mass!" He saw the shell slam into the chest piece of the armored mech. Its torse separated completely from the lower body and flew backwards, smashing into a dug-in squad of soldiers. Armor piercing might have been a bit overkill. He swung his binoculars left. "Panzer IV! One-three-zero degrees! Range eighteen-hundred meters! Load AP!"
Already the cannon began to swing around over to the new target.
"Get down, sir!" Kaho yelled.
Jun dropped his binoculars and hit the deck. The distant chug of a chain gun pounded. Heavy caliber shells plinked and bounced off the steel frame of the field gun. He had hit the ground just in time. The members of the gun crew were blown to pieces! The solid metal projectiles, the size of one's fist, smashed and blew entire chunks of bone, body, and tissue, off each man! One was even completely disemboweled!
John helped a small detail of earthbenders raise an earthen barrier to defend the cannon. It worked for a bit, but the constant cannon fire soon pounded through it!
Another distant blast! A sudden sharp wizz! And explosion! The sound of buckling and snapping metal! Fire and flame erupted from the hull of a destroyed Sherman tank!
"Get me a spare crew! Now!" Jun yelled, rallying more Zaofu guards. More men manned the damaged Flak 36. "Range eighteen-hundred meters! Medium tank in the open! Fire!"
Slight corrections, and another deafening blast from the cannon. The shell punched straight through the driver's port and exploded in the core of the tank! Smoke and, soon after, fire began to pour out from the commander's hatch and out the barrel of the tank's gun. A kill for sure!
"Incoming!" Jun yelled over the men of his line. The shriek of artillery had alerted him. Erratic explosions sounded from the attacking side. Columns of dirt and rubble from the torn and scarred earth jumped into the air as a furious barrage came crashing down within the Empire's advancing ranks. It was a terrific show of force and artillery accuracy, but the forces kept coming, despite how chewed up they were. They were earth benders after all… If they acted fast and hard enough, they could tunnel and dive deep to avoid the barrage.
He picked up his field binoculars once the rubble had settled. The forward defensive line was falling back! Zaofu had fought hard, and the Empire's initial forces received a severe beating, but they were pushing on.
Just on cue, Avatar Korra and company dove into their entrenched firing position. Suyin, Wei, and Wing also converged on their trench, this time coming from the rear echelon.
"There's too many to handle," Korra and Mako exhaustedly reported. "Yangchen and Roku sector is falling apart. We gave them hell, but they're still pushing through."
"Kyoshi sector is about to fall through too," Jun reported. "Runner!" he called, signalling a PFC of the Zaofu Guard.
"Yes, sir?" the PFC acknowledged.
"Run a message to field operations. Report Kyoshi Sector falling back to second defensive line. Tell Roku and Yangchen sector commanders to do the same. Send!"
"Right away, sir!" the young man acknowledged before beginning his mad sprint for the command post.
"Kaho! John! Korra!" the UFDI chief rallied, "It's about time!"
"Time for what?" the avatar questioned, trying to keep up with the chaotic pacing.
"No time for questions, lady," Agent Masaoka prodded, "Just dig with me!"
"Dig what?!"
"A hole and a tunnel! Deep beneath and wide enough to encase us!"
"We're going to have the Earth Empire roll over and past us! Try and head them off as well from the rear," Jun explained.
Korra now understood the assignment. "On it!"
"We can't let them near the city," Suyin exclaimed.
"Trying Ms. Beifong! We are trying!" Jun called back. He turned to the Zaofu Guard personnel now scrambling to reposition the field gun. "Pull artillery and tanks back to the third defensive line and really dig in! The Earth Empire has been holding back their heavy tanks, and I'm dead certain they will be bringing everything to bear!"
"Sir!" the men acknowledged. The Flak 36 immediately began to slide away, faster than any wheeled mount could move such a piece. The wonders of earth bending, Jun thought. He stashed his spare magazine clips into the pouches on his tunic and duty belt and jumped into the hole, the only illumination at the moment being the fire that Mako and Korra held above their palms.
"Best of luck," Suyin said as her and her sons sealed the tunnel and compartment above them, encapsulating the small detail in darkness.
Zaofu 3rd Defensive Line
Outskirts of Zaofu
Western Earth Kingdom
"NOW!" Suyin shouted. From a concealed pit, her and a team of metalbenders sprung up just ahead of an advancing medium tank, too close and too abruptly for the crew to react. Two metalbenders pinned the accompanying soldiers to the ground, while on the other side four metal benders, two from each faction dueled and danced with their element.
Suyin held her own alone on one side of the lumbering and vulnerable tank, while her twin sons positioned themselves on the opposite side. The tank commander tried to attack the leader of Zaofu, but she ducked out of the way of his metalbending defensives. She honed in on the metal belt buckle of his coat and the metal of his epaulets and forced the man down into the hull of his tank. A flick of her hand shut the cupola atop him. A stomp and a sharp pull, and the drive sprocket creaked and tore from the drive shaft. Wei and Wing did the same on the other side, mirroring their mother, their training on how to attack tanks paying off. The Panzer IV came to a grinding halt, but for extra measure Suyin tore the track links from under the vehicle. The two coaxial machine guns tore to life, the turret beginning to turn over Suyin's head. Several links of the tracks levitated up and melded together, the iron and steel becoming a heavy wedge which she thrust into the turret ring, jamming and destroying the traversing assembly. "Now, boys!" she directed. The three lifted, tipping the heavy armored vehicle, and tossing it. The tank slammed back to the earth on its roof, upside down, and its main gun snapped at the gun cradle. It's crew would be too injured to continue fighting after that.
"Chalk another one up to the tally!" the twins exclaimed.
"Focus up, boys!" Suyin refocused, that's just another one out of many! We can't afford to celebrate!"
The rest of her squad had finished dealing with the accompanying infantry, pinning the non-bending soldiers to the ground and to trees, and incapacitating the benders.
It wasn't all fruitful though. While they were effective at denting the advancing line, Zaofu was on their third defensive line. There were only ten in total, with the final one being the most heavily armed, but existing right on the border of the domes of Zaofu.
"Aircraft!" someone called out.
Suyin squinted towards the skies. Coming from the setting sun were a pair of F-86 Sabres, the Earth Empire's main fighter jet. Their engines screamed in, targeting the Zaofu lines.
"Get down!" she yelled at her sons.
A teeth chattering tear of fifty caliber lead rained down. Many were cut down in the flyover. Suyin, Wing, and Wei dove for a nearby shell crater, bullets kicking up dirt just over them. They caught sight of a guardsman getting brutally cut down as he tried to dive for the same hole. The two planes zoomed off into the distance, banking over to make another pass.
"They're coming around, Wei, or Wing, said.
"Air defense will get them, sit tight," Suyin said through gritted teeth.
As if on cue, a missile came soaring in from Zaofu. Both jets began to rapidly dump their flares. Bright flames and flashes poured from the tails of both jets, trying to confuse the incoming missile. One peeled right, and the other left. The missile was not phased and homed in to its target. An explosion! One Sabre was swatted from the sky in a ball of flame. There was no parachute deployment as the jet tumbled from the air in pieces. The remaining plane had made it around.
"AA! Now!" The three quickly mobilized as fast as they could. The plane was making a straight attacking line directly at their position. One. Two. Three. Four. Four boulders flew from the ground, each the size of a car. The Beifongs launched them as fast as they could. The oncoming pilot dodged rocks one, two, and three, but the fourth one shattered his tail. The aircraft tumbled and the pilot bailed out.
"Duck!" Wei called. The three hit the dirt as the plane and wreckage crashed down and exploded nearby.
"Ms. Beifong!" the combined voice of several men called. Soon a squad came to their crater. Several men immediately dropped in and returned fire with their rifles. Their leader, a lieutenant, was relieved seeing them okay. "Thank goodness," she exhaled.
"I'm fine, lieutenant," Suyin assured. "How's the sitrep?"
The young officer produced a map from her uniform that had been folded and creased to the point of nearly falling apart in the few hours she had it in her possession. This was the most recent report. "Kyoshi sector is where the Earth Empire has, unintentionally focused the brunt of their armor and heavily armed units. Many tanks, half tracks, mech suits, and grenadiers are there, and that's where they are making the hardest push."
There was a sharp thrust from the Earth Empire's advancing line, a deep cavity in the Zaofu Defenses. And it was deep. Too deep in fact.
"They're pushing harder and faster than the their flanks can keep up with," Suyin observed.
"Confusion in the fog of war, ma'am," the lieutenant confirmed. That's what Suyin's officers were chalking it up to. "Yangchen and Roku sectors are holding stronger, and there are even reports that our forces were able to push their attackers back more."
Suyin produced a pencil and drew a new hypothetical front line where her own forces may be. "That would put Kyoshi Sector's Earth Empire forces almost a kilometer or more deep into our lines. We could cut them off."
"Precisely," the lieutenant affirmed. "We're trying organize and combine all rocket and cannon artillery in the city and the field for a combined creeping barrage to force any reinforcement away from the line while we surround and attack the concentration of armored units.
"By the time we launch that, there likely will be an even greater amount of units in that cavity." Suyin analyzed. "It might now single handedly win the battle for us, but it will definitely put pressure and strain on their forces. See to it preparations in your section are ready for when the time comes."
"Yes, ma'am," the young lieutenant saluted. A hopeful smile came across her face.
The distant tear of a machine gun thundered.
"Forty-two! Get your heads down!" one of the soldiers shouted.
Bullets suddenly tore into the dirt around them. Another burst whizzed just overhead. Way too close for comfort! Suyin's vision blurred as she flinched, tucking further down in the crater. But the lieutenant did not react the ideal way. Her instinct told her to run. Unconsciously she slightly, just slightly lurched upward, startled by the burst.
Blood splattered against Suyin's face as ten rounds slammed into the young woman's upper chest and shoulders. The rate of fire so quick that even in that split hair of a second, she had caught a dozen rounds. The young officer fell face first back into the crater, just beside Suyin.
"Lieutenant!" the men of her squad yelled in shock. "Medic! We need a medic!"
Suyin was shocked. For a moment, one that felt like an eternity, she sat motionless and wide eyed. She couldn't move or speak. She stared down at her hands and her tunic and trousers, stained with a thick crimson. She wiped the blood from her face, slowly and with as much force as she could. She didn't notice the medic and assistants jump into the trench.
There was a group around the fallen woman.
"Lieutenant?! Lieutenant?!" the medic yelled, supporting her head and neck. "Shit!" he exclaimed, blood pouring over him too. "Lieutenant Shan, are you with me?! Come on!"
She was struggling, gurgling as blood rushed to her mouth. She writhed in unfathomable amounts of pain.
The medic moved with vigor. "Morphine!" he called to an aiding soldier. "Someone got an aid kit up here?! Stat!"
"Got one!" one soldier acknowledged, breaking open the aid kit. The pair of rifles and a joining pair of submachine guns opened fire just beside the group rushing to this officer's aid.
"Keep those bandages clean! Keep 'em clean! DON'T LET THEM TOUCH THE GROUND!" the medic scolded, readying the dose of pain relief. "Lieutenant Shan!" he yelled, trying to shake her to her senses, "Lieutenant! Stay with me! You'll be fine! Just stay awake!"
There was too much blood. More than he could plug up. Lieutenant Shan's eyes began to close and roll up into her head. "Do we have a water bender?! Somebody get me a healer! Now!" He lightly tapped her on the cheeks. "No no no! Stay awake! Stay awake! Don't do that!" He raised his voice. "HEALER! NOW!"
There wasn't one. Not nearby. Reportedly their closest water bending healer had been blasted by a tank in the next sector over.
"M-..." the officer muttered, shakily. "Mi-...M-Miss."
"Lieutenant Shan, stay with me! Stay focused!" the medic called to her, not noticing her talking. His mind was frantically, futilly, looking for options. The other men were still firing back, or frantically looking for more aid amid the chaos. One of their side's tanks crept up by the crater. It paused briefly and fired its cannon, further strengthening the ringinging in Suyin's ears. The machine gun fire stopped and the tank rumbled forward, firing off its machine gun before another blast from its cannon thundered. Even so, Suyin was the only one to notice the lieutenant's words.
"M-Mi-Miss..Beifong? A-Are y-y-you okay, m-ma'am?" She only managed the final question before her head and body went limp. The young woman expelled her last breath, and she slumped in the medics arms.
"Medic." Suyin muttered, "Medic." Her voice was far too quiet. Too quiet to be heard in a library, nonetheless a warzone.
The medic didn't hear her, but felt Shan drop in his arms. He looked down and tried calling to her once again. "Fuck!" he cursed, frustrated. "Old Iron be damned to hell!" There was nothing more to do.
The medic put his helmet back on his head and gently set the lieutenant's body down. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I wasn't able to save her."
Suyin didn't speak, but her eyes told him, "You did what you could."
"S-Sergeant," she called, still shaken. The NCO slid over, coming off the firing line. "Yes, ma'am?"
"You're in charge of her section. See to it the preparations are made," Suyin instructed, "we must get ready for the counter offensive."
"Yes, ma'am," he saluted.
Earth Empire Front Line
Outskirts of Zaofu
Western Earth Kingdom
CRRAAUNNGGGGG! Yasuho flinched sharply as an incoming shell bounced right off the frontal armor of the leading tank in the column. A massive beast of a tank at that. Their assumptions were indeed correct.
"So this is the role of the Maus," she said on the radio, ducking for shelter in her tank's cupola. The heavy and imposing steel behemoth towered over her Tiger I, it was even taller than the other accompanying Tiger II's of the 1st Armored Division. Its tracks clanked against the ground as they passed over massive sprockets and idler wheels. The vehicle pushed on even though they had just received a direct hit! Their front plate must, all their armor for that matter, must have been ridiculously thick! That was an eighty-eight, Yasuho thought. Had that been them, they'd be dead!
Its massive turret traversed, angling over slightly, bringing its 128mm main gun to bear. To Yasuho, this beast might as well have been a battleship.
If only she knew.
CRRAUNGGG! TRANNGGGGG! Two more shots from enemy field guns. Two more bounces! The Maus slowed slightly. Yasuho's driver adjusted accordingly so as to not rear end them. The main gun fired! A deafening boom sounded. Everyone aboard Tiger 118 felt the reverberation deep to the core. The noise was ear drum shattering. Even though they worked around a cannon, all of them plugged their ears instinctively. Yasuho saw a shockwave blast forth from the muzzle of the massive gun.
The massive shell ripped through the gun mantlet of an up-armored Zaofu M4 Sherman. A shot Yasuho's Tiger I could have difficulty accomplishing. The captain watched as the massive turret began to swing left immediately after, acquiring their next target. An M46 Patton! Vietnam War era armor, a serious threat to the WW2 era weaponry fielded by Kuvira's forces.
"Bring us closer! Closer in, Hanako!" Yasuho shouted at her driver.
"Aye, kommandant," she acknowledged. Her crew, even now, still used their playful monicker to their commander, but their voices were much less lively.
Tiger 118 slid in even closer to the Maus, using them as a massive shield. That 90mm gun and its ammo was not something to be messed with. The Maus couldn't load in time. Suddenly the massive tank jerked its hull right. The Zaofu tank fired, and a high velocity shell came rocketing at them. CRREEEEECHHHH! The shell scraped right off the side hull and whistled past, also barely clearing Yasuho's tank. It soared back into the rearward echelons and slammed into a trailing Panther tank two columns to their left and three tanks back. Yasuho whipped around and saw flames catalyzing in the hull of that hit tank, a massive hole in the frontal armor serving as a window into the former tank and current furnace.
"Chen, Chansung," Yasuho called to her supporting tanks, "Really close in! Minimize yourselves as best as possible. Do not run any of our troops over!" the captain emphasized.
"Roger!"
"Roger!" the two commanders acknowledged. The trailing Tiger and Panther inched even closer in, closing the gap quickly.
"Eunji, target two hundred meters, port bow," Yasuho called to her gunner, "Armor piercing. Put it through the track wheel."
"Aye, cap'n," the acknowledgement came. Eunji, all of her crew really, wondered why Yasuho used so much naval jargon. They got used to it over time. Vietnam-era tank huh, Corporal Jang thought. She just caught sight of the enemy tank in the gun sight. The Tiger was just barely peeking its gun out from behind the Maus.
"Up," Junko signaled, the breach clanking shut.
"Come on," Eunji said under her breath. The enemy tank had begun to roll. "Gotcha." She crushed the trigger beneath her heel. The main gun fired and briefly her sight was obstructed by the muzzle flash and smoke. The shell pierced straight through their right drive sprocket and entered the hull of the enemy tank. The M46 jerked to the left, suddenly club hauled by their loss of the right track. Their follow up cannon shot missed, again careening off the side armor of the heavy Maus.
"Scratch driver and assistant driver," Eunji tallied, "They're sitting ducks."
The enemy tank came to a halt, no one to drive remained, if anyone. The Maus clanked on, its main gun loaded and sighted. A sound of thunder and another powerful shockwave erupted from its main cannon. The shell tore straight through the frontal armor and exploded within the enemy medium tank,its turret being thrown from the resulting explosion. "High explosive," Eunji called to Junko. Her loader was already diligently loading the next shell in. "Can we tally that as a kill? We did pin him down after all, 1st Armored Maus was practically obliterating a corpse at that point."
"Is that really the important thing on your mind right now?" Maho questioned, whilst changing out the barrel on the bow mounted machine gun.
"Up," Junko called.
"We have momentum right now, but this is real warfare. Not a training scenario anymore," Maho lectured. Her words were muffled by her firing the bow gun at enemy soldiers. Junko did the same using the coaxial machine gun, hosing down the enemy positions off their left side. "Fate could easily put us in their situation at the drop of a hat. People are dying, and not just them. Us too."
Killjoy, Eunji scoffed, clicking her teeth.
"I'll allow it," Yasuho judged, her voice steady and serious despite the levity of the topic. She was hyper focused as well. "1st Armored's usually very good at acknowledging who really killed an enemy tank." Another blast from the Maus. They were breaking through.
"Troops in cover ahead," Maho announced, mainly reminding Hanako to drive with care. It wouldn't be the first time soldiers ran right in front of their tank, specifically the treads, in a panic. Not a fun thing to listen to.
Looking left, off the port side, Yasuho watched as the Tiger II in the next file of tanks over fired on and tallied another M46 tank. Similarly that column had another Maus leading, but their tanks were more aggressive with popping out from behind their moving battering ram and taking shots. "Field gun, one hundred meters, port side, Eunji," Yasuho called.
"I see him," Eunji reported. "On the way."
Yasuho braced as the main gun fired again. The tank rocked slightly and a brilliant explosion flashed where the enemy position was. "Direct hit," Yasuho observed. The coaxial machine gun opened fire, Eunji targeted the remaining Zaofu soldiers that were crewing the gun.
"When do we get to engage?" Eunji grumbled. "1st Armored gets to have all the work. And I feel like we could be of more use!"
"Not all of 1st Armored," Yasuho reminded, "A King Tiger's front armor is a lot more resilient than ours. Not as boxy. We aren't pitted against small arms, technicals, and light tanks with light guns anymore. They'll pave the way and once we are at the deployment spot, we will jump on the offensive. Patience, Corporal Jang."
"Yes, ma'am," Eunji again grumbled.
"Left and right flanks have not been as vocal," Maho commented. The Earth Empire had three lanes of attack, but she was only hearing kill after kill, and victory after victory, from their sector. It was a massive valley so they couldn't see what was going on in their left and right flanks.
"Orders are to push ahead," Yasuho answered. "First and third sectors will follow along as directed, I'm sure."
Maho didn't like the comparatively less frequent radio calls from their flanks.
They trundled past the flaming wreckage of more destroyed Zaofu tanks and exploded foxholes, trenches, pillboxes, and field guns. The bodies of numerous Zaofu guardsmen scattered the battlefield. At this point it was impossible not to run over them. This was the first internal war to grip the Earth Kingdom in centuries. And the situation was quickly worsening. Kuvira was no longer beating around the bush. Once it became evident, as everyone expected, that Suyin would not be convinced or wooed into aligning with the Earth Empire, the gloves came off. This was now forcing the square peg into a triangular slot with a sledgehammer.
As the guns continued to roar, they crawled past their own side's wreckage now. Fallen Earth Empire troops, smashed halftracks, split and gutted mech suits, and obliterated transport trucks. Yasuho gripped the bill of her cap and pushed it up on her head as they passed the wreckage of a Panzer IV that was flipped onto its roof and had its tracks ripped from its body. Metal bender attack.
"Column, we are approaching the front line. Troops entrenched. Exercise caution," the commander of their leading Maus tank reported.
"Copy," Yasuho replied.
"Roger."
"Roger that," the other two commanders acknowledged.
She ducked down into the hull briefly. "Check fire, ladies. We're at the front. We have troops and friendly units dug in and entrenched ahead. They'll be falling in with us. We should expect shit to get real now. Here we go," Yasuho announced. "Hanako-chan, don't run anyone over."
"Aye, Kommandant," their driver acknowledged, tightening her grip on the steering wheel and letting off the accelerator a tad.
The sound of machine guns, chain guns, and rifles intensified as they drew nearer and nearer. The guns of the Maus and other heavy tanks began to fire at will. Soon, bullets started to whizz around them.
"Traverse left," Yasuho ordered.
She ducked as the turret began to turn. She could feel the wake of stray rounds that zipper past her. She made herself as small of a target as possible. Scanning left and right, just peering over the rim of her cupola, she could see the current line of soldiers and units dug in and holding the line. A wide spread of soldiers in foxholes, trenches, and craters. Mech suits, the ones that made it this far, were knelt in the depressions standing up to fire occasionally. Despite being armored, they had to fight somewhat like simply large humans. A few halftracks survived too, but they had been lowered in earth- bent ditches to become smaller targets, makeshift machine gun nests.
"Big boys are here!" the captain managed to hear over the pounding of the cannons and the tear of the machine guns, "Men! Get ready to move! On your feet! We're breaking through!"
Eunji paused in firing on the enemy positions in her sector of fire. "Smoke screen, Cap?" she inquired.
"It's fine, I'll take care of this one," Yasuho replied, "Save it for when we really need it."
"Aye, Cap."
Yasuho took a deep breath and suddenly flexed her core. She swung left and threw two quick, fast, and strong punches. The ground extending off their left side rippled and shot outward as if there was a torpedo rocketing away just beneath the surface of the earth. A small mound of cracked earth raised along the path, but more importantly a tall, dense, and thick screen of dust burst up from the earth completely concealing the entrenched soldiers from their enemy. She swung over to the right and did the same thing, firing off the starboard and covering the line of troops and units to their right. "Eunji, switch to thermals," she suggested, a bit late.
Her gunner flicked on the thermal camera for her gunsight. The entrenched Zaofu guardsmen glowed bright white on a hazy gray display. She had to lay off the machine gun, firing in shorter bursts, as the heat from the gun interfered with the view.
Yasuho ducked! WHEESH! SCRREEAATCH! A shell, fired through the dust cover a them careened in and deflected off their side armor!
"Son of a bitch!" she exclaimed, getting caught by surprise. I was pretty exposed when those bastards shot, she thought. She avoided thinking of what could have happened if they managed to aim just a bit higher. "Shot in the dark. Just a shot in the dark, I'm fine," she exhaled into the transponder, to answer the concern from her crew members.
"Alright gentlemen! Let's move!" she heard the soldiers shout among themselves. The men on the right flank rose from their trenches and began to fall in behind the tanks.
Yasuho gestured with her arms, calling the soldiers on the left flank. "Up! Move! Come on!" she shouted at them. She recognized one of the men. PFC Kyung Cho, Junko's boyfriend in the mechanized infantry. Wasn't he a rifleman? She watched the young man stand up, hoisting the squad MG42 up by the bipod and pinning the massive gun under his armpit. He fired blindly but fiercely into the dirt cover. Tracers flew out from the glowing hot barrel intensely.
"Alright men! Let's get up! Move with the tanks! Use them as cover!" He paused, taking a breath amid a loud and long burst. "MOVE!"
The soldiers crowded in and rallied behind the armored column. The half-sunken half tracks were raised from their ditches and began to roll in behind the last tank in the column, and the heavy stomping mech suits followed suit. Similar rallying and staging occurred all along the front as their army made its spearpoint attack ready to thrust once more.
"Here we go," Yasuho said under her breath.
"Stay in close! Stay low! Stay behind the tanks!" she heard PFC Cho call to the men in his squad. Sprays of tracers, flying rocks and sheets of metal as well, zeroed in on their column. Incessant pangs and clangs echoed as bullets bounced off the heavy armor.
PFC Cho clambered up the rear of the armored beast, scrambling low and ast across its rear deck and sitting back against the turret.
"Kyung," Yasuho greeted, as calmly and quaintly as she could given the circumstances, "you're alive! Wonderful news…for Junko. What's the situation?"
"We're on defensive line 4 now," he panted, racking open the barrel release on his MG42. The worn barrel glowed red-hot and smoke rose off of the tempered steel. "We're making progress, but it's been hard fought! The PZ's helped us get up the farthest and the fastest since the beginning of the battle, but Zaofu anti-everything measures are proving to be a freaking hard nut to crack! All Panzer IV's in our sector were knocked out of commission!" He fumbled with a spent casing, trying to hook it into the locking port of the barrel, to little avail. "Captain Aoshima, requesting perm-"
"I gotcha, don't worry," she said. Metal bending the glowing steel out of the machine gun assembly. Carefully it floated just a few inches from Kyung's face before she flung it safely away from everyone. "That thing is so spent, even cooled I wouldn't suggest putting anymore rounds through it!"
"Yes, Captain," he acknowledged, retrieving the second to last spare barrel from the quiver he took off the previous machine gunner, sliding it in, and slamming the assembly shut. Locked and loaded. "They got field guns, and tanks. No mech suits here, but the men who were previously in the Zaofu guard say they'll likely see more mechs closer to the city. We've destroyed a few, but the ones that get away get pulled back, literally, and bolster the next lines up!"
"What kind of tanks are they bringing to play with?" Captain Aoshima asked.
"Most of their lighter tanks, the PZ's dealt with earlier. Mostly old M4s and the occasional post-ww2 era tank. We've been catching glimpses of Tigers and Panthers now though. Probably more heavier tanks up ahead, ma'am!"
"Great reporting, at this rate, with what I've seen, you'll earn your sergeant stripes after this. As a PFC, that'll be one hell of a jump!" Yasuho applauded.
"If we make it out of this," Kyung chided. In a way. "I have to get back to the boys."
"Wait!" Yasuho halted him. She turned over and pounded hard on the second hatch with her fist. "Junko! Top side!"
Awkwardly, the second hatch opened slowly. And after it fell open, a helmeted head slowly and timidly raised out of it. Her loader, whose helmet seemed two sizes too big on her small head and frame, was not good when directly exposed to combat.
"Yes, kommandant?-" she asked, just noticing Kyung.
"Make it quick," Yasuho prodded. The commander took a quick sweep around the battlefield then dropped down into the hull for a quick moment. Yasuho slid in next to Eunji.
"Cap?" Eunji questioned, surprised.
"Favor to Junko. Don't ask. What do you need?" Yasuho quickly answered and asked.
"Canister shell…please?" Eunji was at a loss for words. She was ordering something from her superior?
"Got it," Yasuho acknowledged. She bent a shell over from the ammo rack and smoothly slid it into the breach. "Up."
That was even faster and smoother than Junko, Eunji thought. "Firing!" Yasuho plugged her ears with her hands. The gun breach flew back as the cannon fired. She pulled the breach open and forcefully ejected the spent casing.
"Armor piercing," Eunji requested.
"Up!" Yasuho called, almost immediately after.
"Hang on!" Eunji rapidly swung the turret left.
Yasuho flinched as a loud and terrific screech came from the betal right behind her. The turret swung right abruptly after and the gun fired!
"Scratch another tank," Eunji reported, "A PZ, too!"
Junko slid back into the hull of the tank. "Sorry for the wait," she humbly apologized.
"About time! Making the commander work the loader position!" Eunji scolded.
"Someone's looking rather flustered," Yasuho teased. "Neck and face!"
Junko rubbed at her neck with rigor.
"That's not going away anytime soon, don't worry about it," Yasuho said as she stood up once again, perched above the turret in the cupola.
"Commanders," the Maus commander called over the radio, "Make ready! We're at the very front!"
"Acknowledged," Yasuho replied. She braced as a Zaofu shell exploded beside their tank, rocking it and raining dirt on them. "Chen! Chansung! You two are on right flank, we'll take left!"
"Roger, Captain Aoshima! The two men replied.
Maho's voice came on the intercom. "Yasu, sector command is giving the green!"
"Now! Spread out! Battle formations!" Yasuho ordered. She flicked channels with her free hand. "Hanako, left stick. Put us alongside the Maus!"
Hanako shifted gears and pulled on the tiller lever. "Understood!" She took a moment to sweep her hair from her face. They sharply pivoted leftward. Hanako gave the engine more gas to close the distance and catch up. Soon they were pulling alongside the massive tank. A line of heavy tanks spread out along the Empire's front, covering the line with a tank every fifty meters.
"All guns, open fire!" Yasuho ordered. "Fire at will!"
Their eighty-eight blasted another machine gun position, and the coaxial and bow machine guns tore into enemy lines. "Don't tempt me with a good time," Eunji said through gritted teeth.
"Tiger, front!" Yasuho called out. "Dug in and hull-down, one hundred meters! Eunji!"
"I'm on it!" She replied, the turret swinging around.
"Up!" Junko called.
"Scratch that," Yasuho cancelled. She watched as the identical heavy tank was struck through its side armor by a Tiger II. Fire roared from the downed enemy tank.
"New target, Panther! Starboard bow, one hundred meters!"
"On it!" Eunji acknowledged.
"Scratch! Target, front, PZ. One-seventy meters!" Yasuho called.
Why?! "On it," Eunji replied. She wanted to nail a heavier and more formidable tank.
The thundering, eardrum shattering, boom of the Maus's 128mm cannon echoed. The enemy Panther was shattered from the hit!
"On the way!" Their tank fired. Both Yasuho and Eunji watched as the shell soared straight through the face armor of the small medium tank, killing it.
"Cake walk," Eunji commented. There's nothing for us to do!"
"Don't let your guard down. It can always get worse," Maho called back.
"With the Mauses? With King Tiger's supporting us? We're invincible!"
"Maho's right, it can always get-! Yasuho stopped mid sentence. "Contact immediate front! RPG!"
From a concealed tunnel in the ground, two Zaofu guardsmen popped up, from their hidden position in the ground. Both slinging the cheap-to-produce, but deadly effective, rocket launcher over their shoulders.
Maho opened fire with the bow gun. Hosing their position with tracers. But the two men were unphased and steadied the hail of bullets coming down around them. They had bigger fish to fry.
The first man fired! Smoke shot out from the rear of the launcher and the rocket darted out from their foxhole. It slammed through the side armor of the Maus! It's shaped charge punched through the steel and flung a jet of molten metal and explosive through into the belly of the steel beast! Giant pieces of steel ripped from the Maus's hull. Yasuho could see the massive tank rapidly dropping speed, its turret trying to spin around.
"Nail that bastard!" Yasuho yelled at her bow gunner.
A third soldier popped up and flung a rock at the machine gun port. It struck with a force that forced Maho to flinch instinctively, despite being in no harm's way. She did take her finger off the trigger though and her eye off the sights. The second RPG man jumped at the opportunity and fired. The second rocket pierced through the rear area of the tank, just beneath the huge turret. More flames erupted. He had struck ammo, or fuel, or both. Fire poured out from the hole in the armor, out the top of the turret, out of cracks in the turret ring, and everywhere else it could.
Yasuho ripped her headphones off as quickly as she could. A blood curdling scream came through the frequency. It was the Maus commander's voice. The hatch atop the destroyed super heavy tank flung open finally. Removing the headset was temporary relief. He came frantically trying to clamber out the top of the vehicle, engulfed in flame and missing an arm. She could only watch in horror. She reached for her pistol, but she wouldn't have time for such mercy killing.
"Contact front! RPG!" she yelled down the hatch at her crew. "Get him now! Or we're next!"
"Jam!" Maho yelled from the bow. "My gun's jammed!"
Eunji didn't waste breath, she was traversing the turret ahead. Yasuho sprung into action. The rocket fired, and bolted for them at a lightning's pace. She flicked her wrist upward. A small and brief movement was all she could afford, to make a small brief move in the earth. A sheet of earth shot up from the ground just ahead, just in time. It was about as wide as a dinner plate in size! The stone slab intercepted and blocked the incoming rocket, detonating it in the air ahead of them! Fragments and dust sprayed at the steel box, but they were safe!
"Cannister! On the way!" Eunji yelled. The cannon fired, spraying hundreds of gumball-sized tungsten ball bearings at the soft body targets. They were shredded! There was not much left of the grouping of Zaofu guardsmen afterwards.
"Yasu!" Maho called back. "You have a line from another tank column!"
"Put them through," Yasuho instructed, only ever so slightly shaken.
Maho patched the incoming transmission in.
"Captain Aoshima? Pai-sen, are you alright?" It was Major Jiho Choi. "A couple of close calls from what I could see."
"Just a few scratches and dinged paint. Maus is down," she replied.
"Ours is still up and running, but lagging behind," Choi reported. "Word is, Zaofu is planning a counter offensive. Stay alert, senpai!"
"Roger that," Yasuho acknowledged. She flicked back to her crew. "Leading metal shield is down, we're on our own in this sector. Stay alert, ladies."
Earth Empire Rear Echelons
Outskirts of Zaofu
Western Earth Empire
"We need to be doing more," Korra pained, "There is a literal war going on up there. And the worlds' avatar is cowering in a tunnel beneath it!"
"Do you doubt the effectiveness of cowering in a tunnel?" Jun questioned, sarcastically. "Also, we are at our core, an intelligence agency. If you squint really really hard, you could maybe make us out to be some kind of special forces group - but that's stretching it, lady."
"Worked well enough in Vietnam," Kaho added. "As reported by Chief Sokka and Captain Suki in the 60s."
"Secret police - gestapo - sounds more like it," Asami prodded. "Your department's manual is written with the blood of the people struck down by your men."
"War makes people get real poetic doesn't it," Jun grumbled.
"Blatant overreach of jurisdiction too. City law enforcement is the main responsibility of the RCPD," Mako, a cop, chimed in. He kept his emotions in check, as he was the group's main source of light in the dark.
Korra and John dug at the earth ahead of them, tunneling like badgermoles beneath the marching men and rumbling tanks of the advancing army above.
"RCPD made a massive difference when the Equalists were a problem didn't they?" Kaho asked from the rear of the group. "As I remember it, the police even rounded up a lot of innocent non-benders in the Dragon Flats district."
"Still," Asami, and Korra, retaliated. "There's no due process with your group. Sometimes you guys come off as mobsters with uniforms and military-grade weapons. Why Raiko backed your department is beyond us."
"Got your terrorist father, didn't we?" Jun bit back. "Radicalist and arms dealer wasn't he? How many benders died at the hands of the equalists? With weapons your father, your corporation, supplied? I remind you, Avatar Korra, and Miss Asami Sato, that we don't go after petty theft criminals. We go after murderers, insurrectionists, and terrorists. Faster and more effectively than the RCPD has and can. Tack onto that, leading the worlds-wide manhunt for the Red Lotus, and even tracking intel on the mobilization of the Northern Water Tribe onto the Southern Tribe."
Asami went quiet, her father's criminal activity was a major thorn in her side. It was a low blow, surely, but fact was fact. Even if not knowingly involved, blood was thicker than water.
"Yasuho's a criminal, in a way, isn't she?" Korra strategically hit."
"Hold," John ordered. At once the tunneling ceased. Everyone went quiet. What was this? Submarine warfare? Who was listening above?
The agent put a hand to the ceiling of the tunnel, just as dirt and dust fell as the ground shook and rumbled overhead. A heavy tank passing over. They could hear the engine and the blast of the cannon through the dirt. "We're getting shallow, we need to go down further," he suggested, angling his tunneling further downward.
"Excuse me?" Jun questioned. His voice was not quiet nor loud, but seemed to overpower the rumbling of the battle above.
"You heard me," Korra further instigated, throwing ahead more earth in the tunneling effort. "Yasuho is a criminal too. She's got blood on her hands, no doubt. Right now, as a matter of fact. That's not even mentioning her long and decorated service record with this world's Nazi Party."
Jun went quiet now.
"So when - not if - when she's knelt before the forces of the right. You going to sentence her to the firing squad too? Will you give her a pass? Or in some way, do you prefer if the Earth Empire succeeds in their new goals of complete conquest?"
"Well-"
"Don't try and weasel your way out of this one!" Korra accused. "Would you or would you not?!"
"I'd weigh if she's done more net good than not, and that she's just following orders."
"The Nazi's were just following orderes," Korra attacked, "The Northern Water Tribe too in recent years. The Fire Nation too, nearly a century ago! How can you say she's done more net good? How would you know that?"
"Because I know her!" Jun yelled back, his voice furiously bouncing around their small echo chamber beneath the surface. "This one is different, you hear?! If I snagged her right now, I can tell you she'd honestly tell you she does not want to be here, committing these acts, right now! This is not what she had signed on to the Earth Kingdom Army to do! And it is concerning to me, truthfully, that she's been roped into this conquest! Happy, Avatar?! Is that what you wanted to hear?!"
"So," Korra concluded, with an accusatory ah-ha gaze, "Even with the black-and-white, by-the-book, UFDI Chief Junichiro Stevenson, there are exceptions. I want you to think about that, that's all."
"Being hooked into this though," Asami commented as the ground above shook, the sound of a tank being destroyed, "that girl inevitably is going to suffer. She's going to have to lose something…"
John put a hand to the ceiling, ceasing the advance for a bit. "Avatar Korra, you're reading?"
Korra followed and put her hand on the ceiling, trying to focus in. Seismic sense was not her forte. "There's so much up there…"
"Kaho," Jun prompted, "RPG."
The young field agent passed the loaded rocket launcher up the column via Mako and Asami. Jun hovered his thumb over the cocking mechanism, ready to spring into it.
"Panther?" Korra called, uncertain.
"Well," John sighed, "You did get the general shape right. We'll keep working on it. Afterall…I'm not that good at it either." He turned to his superior, "Tiger II, about seventy meters out. We got an opening, and he's moving slow with his broadside exposed!"
"Let's go for it!" Jun prompted, "Squad, ready up!"
Bolts racked, magazines tapped, Jun pulled the safety pin off the warhead of the loaded rocket. Mako snuffed out the flame in his palm. "Here we go!"
The earth rumbled, and suddenly the six of them rose up from the depths through the simultaneously opened hole to the outside world. All the gunfire and cannon blasts amplified as they broke into the outside air. Bursts of machine gun fire and the pop-shots of a rifle were joined by the rush of flames, the sound of crumbling and moving earth, and the whips of water, as the members of their small guerilla squad engaged the enemy all around them.
Sure enough, dead ahead there was a lumbering King Tiger, camouflaged in the scheme of the 1st Armored Division. The commander spotted them and immediately bent several small plates of steel at them.
Kaho, thinking fast, slung her Thompson and flicked the cap of her water sheath open. She had a sizable reserve of water to use. The liquid shot from her carrying pouch and formed a thick wall of ice that shielded them. The steel embedded hard into the frozen barricade. As Kaho let down the barrier, Korra took control of several of the caught metal projectiles. Kaho froze a layer of ice around several more, allowing her to 'metal-bend' via water, and the two of them returned the deadly projectiles to their sender. The steel bounced off the thick steel of the side armor and turret. No hits on the commander, but they did force him back down into the hatch.
John, meanwhile, flipped an advancing halftrack and toppled it over. They were running on a collision course with the group. Mako helped suppress the scrambling troops with a steady blast of flame.
"Back blast! Clear back blast!" Jun shouted.
Kaho and John checked quickly, as Mako pulled Asami out of the path of the exhaust port of the RPG. "Back blast clear!" the two of them yelled.
"Rocket!" Jun yelled. BOOM! The RPG fired. Powerful shock forces blasted out the rear of the launcher and the warhead shot forth. He hit home, piercing straight through the side armor of the King Tiger. No extreme explosion, but the tank came to a halt and fire poured from the hole in the armor. A kill!
"Down!" Take us down!" Jun yelled, slinging the launcher and bringing his submachine gun to bear. The Thompson chattered as he swept a line across a grouping of charging soldiers. The ground beneath them gave way, and soon, the six of them dropped back into the darkness. John sealted ground above them while Korra vehemently tunneled down and away from the surface with the others running closely in trail.
The earth bending soldiers dug after them, but they were too late and did not follow the right direction. They had been shaken off the tail.
"Respectfully," Asami said, loading in more shotgun shells into her weapon as she ran, "does this really make a difference?"
"We have several dozens of squads doing the same hit and run tactics. Throughout the combat zone. The idea is to cause confusion and fear in their lines. Makes 'em more susceptible to tripping up in the real battle," Jun answered.
"Guerilla tactics," Kaho supported. "We're more maneuverable and less expected than a standing army. And therefore can deal significant damage."
"Another King Tiger, dead ahead," John called again.
"We'll take that one too," Jun rallied, "Ready up!"